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Siân Griffiths (Fiction) | Ogden, UT

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Negotiable

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Anywhere

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Siân Griffiths lives in Ogden, Utah, where she directs the Creative Writing Program at Weber State University. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Georgia Review, Redivider, Fifth Wednesday Journal, Quarterly West, Ninth Letter, and The Rumpus, among other publications. Her short fiction has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, once by Versal and once by The Georgia Review, and her debut novel, Borrowed Horses (New Rivers Press), was a semi-finalist for the 2014 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Currently, she reads fiction as part of the editorial team at Barrelhouse. For more information, please visit sbgriffiths.com

Books

Borrowed Horses (New Rivers 2013). Fiction.

Blurbs, Press & Reviews

“This work by Sian B. Griffiths qualifies as a minor masterpiece of the novelist’s art. Complex and memorable characters, minute attention to background details, an imaginative storyline, and a master of dialogue, Borrowed Horses is a consistently entertaining read.”
-Small Press Bookwatch, Midwest Book Review

“Griffiths’ great accomplishment in dealing with the men in Joannie’s life is that she manages to be sympathetic to both Joannie’s physical desires (many of which are described in sensual detail) and her almost feminist nature. What Joannie discovers through much trial and error is that balance can only be found in the middle. In this way, and in many others, life is like riding a horse.”
-Peter Geye, Minnesota StarTribune

“A remarkable debut, tough-minded and feisty as the prodigal daughter at its heart. Borrowed Horses explores with precise attention a corner of our country–the rolling Palouse of northern Idaho–rarely portrayed in fiction, and, along the way, translates equestrianism into a kind of beautiful metaphysics.”
-Lance Olsen, Calendar of Regrets

“Siân Griffiths puts Idaho on the map. Her writing is as tough and lovely as a flower blooming in gravel.”
-Amina Gautier, At-Risk, Winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award

“I’ve never ridden a horse, but after reading this book, I feel like I know what it means to meet a fence and jump–that moment of flight. Griffiths etches her characters, their rituals and desires, with startling devotion. There is more than one love story in this novel, and each one pulls hard. Friendship and grit ride alongside both misplaced and slow-burning passions through a distinctly Western emotional landscape. Joannie Edson is both a woman I admire and want to throttle: this is what recommends her. We are all haunted–Borrowed Horses shows one woman learning to weather the ghosts and jump again.”
-Kirsten Kaschock, Unfathoms and Sleight